Bye Bye 2004. New Year,New Resolutions

As we step into the last day of the 365 days of 2004, I recall what happened in this year that is filled with both joy and grief. I realised how I have changed in the year and what events happen in this 365 days of my life. It started with me stepping into the life of a sec4 graduating class. Stress undoubtly started to come my way, but it didn't affect my carefree life. Love life were a part of the year as well with 2 relationships, both did not quite work out. Well, had quite alot of fun in 2004, and I also worked abit harder than I did in the past 3 years in face of the o'levels. My relationship with my friends also improved as well. Got to know many new friends too. Haha, my results also had a rather pleasant improvement, maybe due to the extra effort I put in. Then O'levels came and got myself all geared up and all, at the same time hoping that the papers will be easy and I will score well. And then a few events happened throughout the year. My birthday was not remembered by anyone, hehe, well, doesn't really matter. My friends made it up by celebrating my birthday with my buddy, Rebecca. Then, just when the year was coming to an end, 26th December, a real bad disaster struck. Earthquake measuring 8.9 on the richter scale causing tsunamis that by far, killed more than 80,000 people. And now, the year is closing, and facing all of us is the year 2005. What will happen in 2005? I don't know. It'll be a whole new lifestyle. I'll be entering polytechnic, no longer the school life which i have gotten so used to. I sure hope I can adapt to this kind of life. I'll be knowing so many new friends at the polytechnic, yet, I will still be with my favourite clique of friends whom have been with me for years. I sure hope that everything will go well in the next year. Maybe some resolutions for the next 365 days might help. And my resolution is...I sure want to do well for my studies in the next year. Make myself fitter. Have a even better relationship with all my friends. Be better at sports. Get new and better parts for my bicycle. Have alot more fun in the next year. Also, more opportunities to serve my God in the church. Most importantly, hope everything goes well for all my friends and me. So that makes my resolution. And I prepare myself to leap into the new year. So how are you going to spend your next 365 days? Everyone of us is given the same 365 days. You, me, anyone. We are all given 365 days, no more no less. But what are you going to do with it? Are you going to make it a fantastic year, such that when it ends, you will say, 'What a great year it is!' Or are you going to make a mess out of this 365 days and grief at the end. Its your 365 days, and its all up to you what you want to do with it. In the countdown, everyone is given just 10 seconds to say goodbye to the 365 days which we have all walked through. So make full use of this 10 seconds, and think back the year, any regrets in this year, dun regret again in the next.

Everyone Is Special, Thats What Makes Us Ordinary

I don't think theres a need to explain the title. It is just as it is. Indeed, I find this very true. Everyone on this planet Earth is special in their own little way. There is no one who is totally like you. Not even clones can be totally the same. Some people might look the same, but they don't think the same. Some people might think the same, but they don't look the same. In this way, we are all special. Yet, this is what makes us ordinary. Ordinary means to be the same as the majority. And in this case, this 'specialness' is what makes us the same as all other people who are special. Do you get what I mean? I sure hope you do because if you don't, then there is nothing I can do about it. Sometimes, some people think that they are so much special than other people that they feel that others are looking up to them. I find it strange. They feel as if they are some superstar or they have something that no other people have. I don't know how to explain it to you but its just that. Say for example when I sit on the MRT train, I look at the facial expression of the people around me. Sometimes, I get this look on some people's face as if everyone is below them and that they are the only ones who are 'standard'. Still, if you do not understand me, then I can just say sorry mama lo mo tata. As I type this post out, I feel as if I had spelled the word 'special' wrongly, but I had not. It seems so strange to me. Well, it doesn't matter. As I had just said, all of us are special in our little ways. I have a few friends who are very close to me. I realised that we are all special. Different in a nice way. And thats good. Thats how we form a diversity amoung our clique. Thats why I like my clique so much. There are some people, who actually spoils this 'specialness' in themselves by copying the attitude and personality of some people who is quite well-liked, in an attempt to make themselves as well-liked as that person. This really spoils the whole thing. By doing this, it does not make you special, it makes you a copy cat. Special means to be different from others, yet by doing this, the person is being the same as other people. I don't know, maybe it works for some people, maybe their speciality is to be a copycat, a ditto. So what I suggest is, just be yourself. Copying other people won't help. Surely there will be other people who will like your personality and wants to be your friend. So just wait. For me now, I am very happy being myself. My friends accept me for who I am, as I accept them for who they are. So just let yourself be yourself.

What Does The Future Hold For Me?

That question has hit my mind for quite a couple of times already. Seriously, I do not know what I will be like in the future. Sure, I have my goals and ambitions, everybody has them, but I just do not know what I will be like in the next few years. Will I look good, drive a car, have lots of money, a good career? I sure hope I do. But life don't always turn out the way you plan it to be. Ya, you can plan and then work hard to achieve your goals. Many people say that will work. But what if something crops up and your life and ambitions are all ruined just like that? Say a car accident. When I was in secondary 1, just stepped into secondary school, the same question struck my little brain: What will I be like when I leave this secondary school? Some thoughts came up, like being the top of school. Sadly, i didn't achieve that. But what I achieved was so much better and made me happier: Friends. Really good friends whom have brought me through the 4 years in secondary school. No doubt there have been quarrels between us, but it did not destroy nor weaken our relationship. Thus, that proves the saying that the best gift is the best friend. What does the future holds for you then? Some people do think about this. We can never anticipate what lies in the future. Looking at the path ahead, many roads can be seen. Some straight and some not. Sure, you can see where the roads lead to and how straight and easy to walk on it is. But you can never see when robbers, landslides, earthquakes or other undesirable things will come and force you to change the road of which you take. What are your ambitions of life? Once my friends and I sat down and we talked about this. Many people have many different ambitions. For me, I want to have a good career, a car, a house and a happy family. My friends want to do something for the animals, some want to invent something for the good of all mankind. Will we achieve our ambitions? I sure hope we will. Work hard for it, and the chances of achieving it will greatly increase. I look forward to all of us achieving our ambitions and when we do, still friends we are, and friends we will be.

A Tribute To The Victims Of The Tsunami

Giant waves crashing onto beaches, washing off cars and whatever there is that stood in its way. Roads were suddenly in flash floods and fishing boats were washed ashore. People rushing for their lives and racing to safety. Waves rushing into the groundfloor of buildings. This may seem like a scene from some movie which you have watched recently, but it was what happened on 26 December 2004, one day after the merry of the Christmas, an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the richter scale shook the seas off Indonesia. Yet, it was not this earthquake that caused destruction. Tsunamis, giants waves as high as 4 storeys, caused by the sudden jolt of this super quake, was the one that caused the ultimate destruction. "More than 10,000 people are feared dead or missing and millions displaced"(Straits Times). Places hit by the tsunami include Indonesia with over 4,200 dead, Malaysia with 42 dead, Thailand with over 300 dead, Myanmar with 10 dead, Bangladesh with 2 dead, India with about 2,400 dead, Maldives with 15 dead and Sri Lanka with 3,500 dead. I suppose such quakes are very rare as the last super quake was on 1960, measuring 9.5 on the richter scale. The worst thing is, it happened during the holiday season, at holiday hot spots. That is totally crazy if you think about it. And it makes me wonder, human may seem so strong with all their infrastructures, inventions, super structure, whatever they boast of.Yet, just one single shake and some waves caused all these destruction in just minutes. What can we as humans do when God decides to punish us humans? Sorry to say, nothing. We are created from God, we create things from the God's wisdom, and when God decides to punish us, we can do nothing. Human is just simply too small. Ya, we are the dominant race on this planet, but does it matter, we are still part of this planet, we are not all great. This brings me to another point. We shouldn't pollute our Earth. Come on, we are Earthlings, and we are destroying Earth, are we crazy? Who the hell would dirty their own house? This is the same logic. Earth is our home and we have better protect it. If there are other alien spieces outside of Earth, and saw what Earthlings do to their one and only planet, they would die laughing. Well, it also makes me feel happy and blessed that I am living in Singapore. Protected by the land masses that surround it, Singapore is very safe. I mean come on, the epicentre of the super quake is at Indonesia, so near our home Singapore! Yet, only a minority felt just a little tremor! When some guy told me that Singapore will not be hit by natural disaster, I did not quite fully understand why, but now I know the exact reason of how blessed I am to live in this little island of Singapore. Small it may be, but safe it definitely is.

Boredom Takes Its Toll

As the title suggest, it has on me. Life has been so boring since the holidays began. It was alright at 1st but i realised that the december holidays was getting a little too long, too boring. All my friends have went to work, yet i remained unemployed. I am cooped up all alone in my house. My bike lay motionless in my room. There is no one who would do something interesting with me. I felt like i was in a prison which i built myself in my own heart. Once in a while, i would go out with my friends to play computer games. But other than that, i will be facing the concrete walls of my home. The computer did not help at all. I played computer games and they could not satisfy my need for fun. I decided to do this sort of blogging thing to spend my time. So much i wanna write.

Sometimes people can really get SOOOO bored that they simply lose their mind. i feel that way. as if my brain is going to break down anytime soon. I dunno wad they call this. Its not depression. Its pure boredom. Thats one of the reason why people go to the Institute of Mental Health. They get so bored that they start to do things to amuse themselves. And in no time, they would be in a world of their own. They will lose their ability to think properly as they have tried so hard to amuse themselves. Then, they lose their mind and goes to IMH.

Somehow, i feel this is not such a bad thing. I say, if no experts said so, that the people in the IMH are supposedly the happiest people on Earth. We, normal as we call ourselves, are so concerned about what the world think of us. We are scared of being happy, scared of being ourselves, as we are afraid that people will think that we are mad. In fact, we are mad. We are so mad that we suppress ourselves from being happy, we make ourselves do things that we do not like to do. The people in the IMH, they do not even give a damn about wad others have to think about them. They do the things they like and they don't feel bad at all about it. They are happy, in their own world of happiness.

Some people might feel that i am crazy for saying all this. Then let it be. For it is what my heart really feels.